Sunday, 21 March 2010

On the way to China in my mind

Have moved my way through a selection of black teas and a few Oolongs. My plan has been to work my way through the different tea growing regions while covering a bit of history as I go. All along I’ve known that I would eventually get to China, but wanted to delay it as long as possible. I eased into green teas very slowly and I’d like to do the same here by talking about some milder ones.

The most important thing to remember is that while black tea needs to be prepared with boiling water, green tea is much more delicate and needs lower temperatures. The best thing to have if you’re going to drink green tea is a kettle that the temperature can be specified. The easiest thing to do if you don’t have such a contraption is to put a bit of cold water in the bottom of the teapot before the boiling water. Only after the water has cooled a bit, should you add the green tea. It’s not very scientific. And if you’re accustomed to really hot tea, you might not like the slightly less hot green alternative.

I want to go into more detail about green tea preparation in another post, but the last thing I’ll say is this: if you really want the full loose leaf experience, use a glass tea pot where you can watch the green leaves unfold and expand while coloring the water. If you’re sharing tea with another person, it can be as entertaining as watching the shades of a sunset or finding shapes in the clouds.

I’ll continue to include some history and trivia as I sample different teas from different regions of China and Japan. As always, please ask any questions that might come up. So far, the dialogue is what I’m enjoying the most.